How to get rid of gill flukes once and for all!!

[Ben]

Hi peoples,
I am going to treat all my tanks with gill flukes,
what do people suggest?
I would like to get rid of them together and hopefully so
they dont come back!!!
:twisted:

What are the best suggestions on treatment
and Precautionary methods so i dont get them again!

Since my disater with my babies, i am at war with this flukes!!

Cheers,
Ben

[Bill T.]

Good luck Ben.
In my recent attempts to totally eradicate flukes, I nearly managed to totally eradicate fish. It may be useful to read the above sticky about rapid respiration. Also go to the emergency room & have a look at "not looking so good" & other discussions on this topic. Make sure you talk with ladyred.

[Bill T.]

Ben.
Also read "double dosing sterazine".

[Dee]

G'day Ben,

I was just looking over some sites about flukes and medications and found this ... http://www.akca.org/library/flukes.htm ... thought it may be of some intrest too you.

Cheers,

Dee :)

[flukes]

At war huh?? Bring it on :twisted:

Nah they are a pain in the B-hide but there are some treatments out there..

[DR.V]

hmm why dont u try using UV sterilizer? doesnt that help ??

[flukes]

U.V's will kill anything in the water column, not sure if it kills flukes directly but even if it did there would still be the crysts on the fish and then they produce. Iam not sure if at anytime all the parasites are in the water column. I dont think so because thats why its soo hard too kill..

Might do a google on the cycle of flukes..

[flukes]

Ok first found this -


Skin & Gill Flukes Flukes are a parasite that attack the gills and skin of infected fish. Small numbers of flukes are pretty much harmless, but in bad water conditions, over crowding, or aquaria with high organic content, they can multiply at a fast rate. According to the fish doctor the only reliable way to diagnose is with a skin scrape.
Symptoms: Fish will flash or scrape its self against aquarium décor, rapid gill movement, at a more advanced stage, the fish will isolate its self and lie at the bottom with fins clamped. Also cloudy skin due to excess mucus.
Treatment: Flukes are hard to treat and complete eradication is virtually impossible. It is said that for individuals affected with flukes, consecutive salt baths over 2-3 days can be useful. There are commercial treatments avalible.

Doesnt really say much about the life cycle..

Also have a read of this -
http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/disease/flukes.htm

Still no answer on the life cycle..

Ok bit of hard one, i was reading some information that said Adult monogeneans attach them selfs too the fish and complete their life cycle there. Then it goes on too say they lay there eggs on the host but some other strains of flukes reproduce free swimming larvae..

So i suppose if a U.V did kill flukes then eventually it would eradicate them but it would take the life span of an adult, as only the larvae would be killed through U.V..

Iam really not sure now if it does, i dont use U.V so maybe someone could let us know if i can kill parasites..

[Merrilyn]

UV will kill the free swimming lavae that actually flow thru the sterilizer, but they cannot kill the flukes or lavae that remain in the tank, so there will always be a certain population of them in the tank.

[Ben]

Has anyone tried formalin to rid of these pests?
I just bought a bottle and will trial it soon on 1 tank only.
Any suggestions?

Cheers,
Ben

[CMDiscus]

I normally treat them for gill fluke at 10 mls. of formalin bath for 1 hr. in my tank with DH:40ppm and pH 07 ,then move them to a cleaned tank with aged water,sterilize the treated tank and all aq. accessories,if you can't sun dry them you might use a hair dryer to blow them with heat,because you kill all flukes but not the eggs,so,this method helps to dry out the eggs as well,take a trial and you will find it feasible.
If your water DH is too high you might double the strength of formalin,repeat treatment at two days' interval for 3 times for a better result. try it and you fix it. :D

[Merrilyn]

Trichlorofon is a drug that has been recommended by a highly experienced vet involved with the aquarium industry.

Unfortunately, it has serious side effects and must only be used under strict veterinary supervision.

[kkiu]

Really? Trichlorofon has serious side effects?
I havent used it yet, myself. But i have a bottle which I was planning to use on my tank but luckly, the flukes cleared up.

Could you please share the side effects? for future reference.

[mistakes r crucial]

Trichlorofon caused my fish to become quite agressive, it created almost total loss of colour (the Albinos and Solid Reds were almost white) and it was plain to see they didn't like it at all.
However, the dosage I used was considerably more than normally recommended on the advice and under the supervision of an extremely good fish vet.

Prazi is far more gentle but unfortunately there are strains of fluke that Prazi won't touch these days or at least this is my experience. I had a fish in a bath of 5 times the recommended dose for 2-3 hours and it didn't touch them. This same fish went to the vets the following day for necropsy and when she opened up the gill plates the flukes were doing a mexican wave they were that thick.
MAC

[CMDiscus]

After a long ran with trichlofon might damages the fish's reproductive organs and retard the growth,you might sometime found some stunted Discus months after they recovered from this treatment.

[Davo]

As mistakes r crucial stated, be very careful with the dosage of the trichlorofon. I used it and all of my discus lost colour completly.

I found that it did not work so next time I am thinking of using Aqua Master Fluke & Tapeworm tabs.

Has anyone else used this brand and if so how did it work? What other brands have you used?

Dave.

[Benny]

To my best knowledge, its one of the few prazi treatmetns for aquarium fish? I have used it sucessfully, and so has LR

[goldfish]

is there any pictures of what gill flukes look like?

im just wondering, is it possible for the admin to put a picture of some disease like gillflukes,tapeworm, etc on the sticky.
or maybe pictures of any type of sick fish on sticky so if someone has any fish that is sick they need help with, they can refer to the picture in the sticky e.g pic 1 ,pic 2 etc! anyone that can post pictures of their sick fish can be move by the admin to that sticky?

[DR.V]

is there any pictures of what gill flukes look like?

im just wondering, is it possible for the admin to put a picture of some disease like gillflukes,tapeworm, etc on the sticky.
or maybe pictures of any type of sick fish on sticky so if someone has any fish that is sick they need help with, they can refer to the picture in the sticky e.g pic 1 ,pic 2 etc! anyone that can post pictures of their sick fish can be move by the admin to that sticky?

Yeah I thought of this idea before but didnt say anything.

A list of common disease would be usefull and also the treatment for it.

[sammigold]

I just dosed my tank with trichlorfon 2 days ago after having used it in another tank with excellent results... so far I have only seen my sick discus improve and none of the others have lost any colour or shown any ill effects.... I'm scared now as I was not aware that those sorts of effects may happen.... (although come to think of it my angel was a little more aggressive than usual for about 2days I think he has settled again now)
I had tablets that contain 20mg and followed the instructions 1 tablet per 40 litres. 5 tablets in all. should I follow up with the second dose on Friday?? I'm abit worried now.

[wyldchyld01]

didn't want to add this as thread is old, but are you sure of the gill flukes, these things are tiny (only visible by micro too).

and also wanted to make sure a note was attached, things like formulan are used on people too so be very very careful, breathing mask and protective gloves etc when using. Worked with the stuff everyday and no way would i go near these sorts of chems without the gear.

hope you got rid of them btw

Brenton